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JUANITA COOKE
OH 1473
Montana Historical Society
20 th Century Montana Military Veterans
Introduction
The following is an interview with Juanita Cooke for the " 20th Century Montana Military
Veterans" oral history project for the Montana Historical Society. This interview is a continuation
of an earlier interview in which Juanita Cooke was describing her experiences with the Women's
Air Force Service Pilots. The date of this interview is on May 8, 1991. It takes place at her home in
Helena, Montana. The interviewer is John Terreo.
Interview
TERREO: Juanita in our previous interview we left off and you were talking about the P- 47
Thunderbolt. But before we pick up where we left off, I'm a little bit curious when it was that you
first encountered an airplane.
COOKE: That was back in I can't tell you what date but it was during the first World War and we
heard such a noise. I lived in Illinois, in the country and we had -- my uncle was visiting. My
father's brother was there and this noise was so loud and frightening. We were way down in the
country and there was no way we'd have a noise like that. My uncle came out and he said, " why
that's an aero plane."
TERREO: Your uncle was familiar with aircraft because he was serving or had served in the
military.
COOKE: He was serving in the military and he was home on a furlough, if I remember right.
TERREO: Well, that must have been quite an experience for you. Do you remember if there was a
lot of talking afterwards about this airplane?
COOKE: Well, just in my family because we lived in such an out of the way place that we didn't --
I can't recall anything about it afterwards. I was just a little girl.
TERREO: After you had seen it did you think about it any that you can recall or was it just
something that happened that was a little bit unusual and everything got back to normal?
COOKE: Well, yes, I didn't think anything about it after that and it was a long time before I ever

Interviewed by John Terreo on 8 May 1991 in Helena, Mont., as part of the repository's 20th Century Montana Military Veterans Oral History Project.; Topics include her early flying lessons; landing a malfunctioning P-40 fighter plane at the Billings airport; the rules and regulations for military ferry flights; her experiences as a Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) squadron commander; difficulties she encountered while flying a B-25 medium bomber and while instrument-flying a C-47 transport plane; aircraft instrument panels; WASP uniforms; deactivation of the WASPs in Dec. 1944; and her post-World War II life.

JUANITA COOKE
OH 1473
Montana Historical Society
20 th Century Montana Military Veterans
Introduction
The following is an interview with Juanita Cooke for the " 20th Century Montana Military
Veterans" oral history project for the Montana Historical Society. This interview is a continuation
of an earlier interview in which Juanita Cooke was describing her experiences with the Women's
Air Force Service Pilots. The date of this interview is on May 8, 1991. It takes place at her home in
Helena, Montana. The interviewer is John Terreo.
Interview
TERREO: Juanita in our previous interview we left off and you were talking about the P- 47
Thunderbolt. But before we pick up where we left off, I'm a little bit curious when it was that you
first encountered an airplane.
COOKE: That was back in I can't tell you what date but it was during the first World War and we
heard such a noise. I lived in Illinois, in the country and we had -- my uncle was visiting. My
father's brother was there and this noise was so loud and frightening. We were way down in the
country and there was no way we'd have a noise like that. My uncle came out and he said, " why
that's an aero plane."
TERREO: Your uncle was familiar with aircraft because he was serving or had served in the
military.
COOKE: He was serving in the military and he was home on a furlough, if I remember right.
TERREO: Well, that must have been quite an experience for you. Do you remember if there was a
lot of talking afterwards about this airplane?
COOKE: Well, just in my family because we lived in such an out of the way place that we didn't --
I can't recall anything about it afterwards. I was just a little girl.
TERREO: After you had seen it did you think about it any that you can recall or was it just
something that happened that was a little bit unusual and everything got back to normal?
COOKE: Well, yes, I didn't think anything about it after that and it was a long time before I ever